Rinaldo Capello

Rinaldo Capello

Nationality	Italian
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1998 - 2004, 2006 -
Teams	GTC Competition, Audi Sport Joest, Team Bentley, Audi Sport Goh
Best finish	1st (2003, 2004, 2008)
Class wins	3 (2003, 2004, 2008)

Rinaldo Capello (born 17 June 1964 in Asti, Italy), also known as Dindo Capello, is an Italian endurance racing driver.

Dindo started his racing career in 1976, driving go-karts, but didn't move into single-seaters until 1983, starting in Formula Fiat Abarth. 1990 saw Dindo's first major championship victory, winning the Italian Supertourismo Championship in a Volkswagen Golf. He won the championship again in 1996, but in an Audi A4 this time.^[1]

1997 saw Capello's first major endurance victory, at Vallelunga, in the Vallelunga 6 Hours, driving a Volkswagen Golf again. Capello was selected for the 2000 Le Mans race by the Audi Sport Joest team, driving the Audi R8 - the team finished in third place.

Capello was on the winning team in both the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003 and 2004, driving a Bentley Speed 8 and an Audi R8 respectively, and has also finished on the podium on three other occasions.

Capello driving the Audi R10 TDI at the 2008 1000 km of Silverstone

Capello also won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2002. He holds the record of most Petit Le Mans victories, having won in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Dindo was vice-champion of the 2000 American Le Mans Series, winning 6 races. In both 2006 and 2007 Dindo finished as champion alongside Britain's Allan McNish in the Audi Sport North America run R10.

Capello crashed the Audi R10 TDI at the 2007 Le Mans, after losing a rear tire.^[2] The Audi nr. 2 was leading the race comfortably at the time, and the crash ended the cars quest for another Le Mans win. However he returned to the race in 2008 to win again.^[3]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1998	GT1	41	G	McLaren F1 GTR BMW S70 6.0L V12	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Competition	Thomas Bscher Emanuele Pirro	228	DNF	DNF
1999	LMP	7	M	Audi R8R Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Michele Alboreto Laurent Aïello	346	4th	3rd
2000	LMP900	7	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Christian Abt Michele Alboreto	365	3rd	3rd
2001	LMP900	2	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport North America	Laurent Aïello Christian Pescatori	320	2nd	2nd
2002	LMP900	2	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport North America	Johnny Herbert Christian Pescatori	374	2nd	2nd
2003	LMGTP	7	M	Bentley Speed 8 Bentley 4.0L Turbo V8	Team Bentley	Tom Kristensen Guy Smith	377	1st	1st
2004	LMP1	5	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Seiji Ara Tom Kristensen	379	1st	1st
2006	LMP1	7	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	367	3rd	3rd
2007	LMP1	2	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Audi Sport North America	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	262	DNF	DNF
2008	LMP1	2	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Audi Sport North America	Allan McNish Tom Kristensen	381	1st	1st
2009	LMP1	1	M	Audi R15 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	376	3rd	3rd
2010	LMP1	7	M	Audi R15 TDI plus Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	394	3rd	3rd
2011	LMP1	3	M	Audi R18 TDI Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Diesel)	Audi Sport North America	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	14	DNF	DNF

Complete DTM results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2004	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC1	EST	ADR	LAU	NOR	SHA1 5	NÜR	OSC	ZAN	BRN	HOC2	NC	–
2005	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC1 Ret	LAU1 11	SPA 13	BRN 10	OSC 10	NOR Ret	NÜR 19	ZAN Ret	LAU2 11	IST Ret	HOC2 16	20th	0

¹ - A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

References

1. ^ Capello's official website
2. ^ H17: Capello crashes, Biela leads
3. ^ "Audi edges Peugeot in classic Le Mans 24 Hours duel". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2008. http://www.maximummotorsport.co.uk/2008/06/15/audi-edges-peugeot-in-classic-le-mans-24-hours-duel/. Retrieved 2008-06-15. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Dindo's official website
• Interview with Dindo Capello
• Interview: Dindo Capello

Sporting positions
Preceded by Emanuele Pirro	Italian Touring Car Champion 1996	Succeeded by Emanuele Naspetti
Preceded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2003 with: Tom Kristensen Guy Smith	Succeeded by Seiji Ara Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello
Preceded by Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004 with: Seiji Ara Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by J.J. Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	American Le Mans Series champion 2006-2007 with Allan McNish	Succeeded by Lucas Luhr Marco Werner
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 with: Allan McNish Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by David Brabham Marc Gené Alexander Wurz

Persondata
Name	Capello, Rinaldo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 June 1964
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death